Detik.com - March 17, 2006

Shinta Shinaga, Banda Aceh - The peace process in
Aceh has encountered a stumbling stone. Militia
groups still exist and recently their level of
activity has even been increasing. Added to this is
the spread of illegal weapons.

These two issues continue to haunt the implementation
of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the
Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM). To this day, Friday March 17, they are
increasingly becoming hot topics of discussion.

Moreover it needs to be remembered that the MoU does
not regulate the disbanding of the militia and there
are no clear mechanisms for the surrender of the
illegal weapons they posses. The MoU only regulates
the disbanding of the Aceh National Army (TNA, GAM’s
armed wing) and the decommissioning of GAM’s
weapons. Both of which have already been carried
out.

GAM says the militias are derived from the TNI
(Indonesian military) and regards them as a
potential threat that could hinder the peace
agreement. “These militia are a potential threat.
But we are not assuming it will obstruct the peace
process in Aceh. The problem will of course still
exist. But it should be handled wisely”, said GAM’s
Swedish spokesperson Bakhtiar Abdullah at GAM’s
central office in Lamdingin, Banda Aceh, on
Wednesday March 15.

On the question of the weapons possessed by the
militia meanwhile, Abdullah declined to speculate
admitting that he does not have any hard evidence.
“Our weapons were destroyed in accordance with the
MoU. The weapons that in the past we constantly
carried, like a wife, have been cut in three,
destroyed by the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM)”,
said Abdullah.

The head of the Aceh Transitional Command for the
Pase region, Tengku Zulkarnain, also says he can
guarantees that the illegal weapons did not
originate from GAM. “In Pase there is not one
illegal weapon. But of course there is no evidence.
Even if there was, the illegal weapons in Aceh are
not our business. That is the responsibility of the
police”, said the ex-TNA member at his office on Jl.
Medan in Lhokseumawe on Thursday March 16.

The North Aceh head of the AMM, Jorma Gardemeister,
also confirmed that GAM’s weapons had been
surrendered to the AMM and destroyed. “If [weapons]
still exist, it’s illegal. It is the police that
must deal with it and then hand them over to the
AMM”, said Gardemeister who originates from Finland.

Government investigation

The AMM has meanwhile asked the Indonesian
government to investigate reports on the increase in
the level of militia activity in various parts of
Aceh. The AMM is presently waiting for the results
of the investigation. “A militia presence could
disrupt the peace process. But we believe that the
government can overcome it”, said AMM head Pieter
Feith at his offices on Jl. Tengku Abdul Rauf in
Banda Aceh on Wednesday.

Although not often, the AMM has however also been
monitoring actions that are unhelpful to the peace
process such as statements about the past that was
dominated by conflict. “These statements does not
reflect [the views of] the GAM leadership. This
phenomena, they are illegal groups. Of course it
will be embarrassing if they reemerge after the AMM
has gone. Even though the crisis in Aceh has ended
and the armed conflict resolved”, asserted Feith.
(sss)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

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